It's always a snow day at Mt. Crescent Ski Area

HONEY CREEK, Iowa (KMTV) —

• Video shows skiers enjoying a day off at Mt. Crescent Ski Area in Pottawattamie County.
• Many teenagers, parents and younger kids were out making the most of a snow day at the area's only place to ski.
• Dan Borgaila is a technician at the ski area, he says they always make snow for the hill, so people can ski even when it's not snowing. Below is an image captured by Scripps News' Chris Nagus as he was flying into Omaha on Sunday.
  

  

  Chris Nagus/Scripps

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

I’m at Mt Crescent Ski Resort where there are a lot of teenagers and a few parents and little kids – enjoying the day off school. I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter and I learned how they make snow at Mt. Crescent and what brought the kids out today.

10-year-old Madison had the day off from Pawnee Elementary in Omaha.

Madison: “Yeah, my uncle taught me and the first time I hit the hills I was perfect at it.”

Even when Mt. Crescent Ski Area gets natural snow, they have to make most of it.

Dan Borgaila: “The only way we wouldn’t make snow is if we got a crazy blizzard and it dumped three, four feet over the whole hill.”

The cold weather expected this week should help improve skiing conditions.

“So, we’re a little thin in places and we’re just trying to get a lot more snow coverage everywhere, and if we get these temperatures that are forecasted for later on this week in the teens, then we should be able to get everything covered with our three-foot base that we shoot for…”

People can visit the ski area, even when it’s not snowing…

“Out here, as long as the temperatures are holding up for us there’s 100% chance of snow…”

Esben Carter is an exchange student from Denmark studying in ft. Calhoun. He learned to ski in Sweden.

Carter: “I’ve skied since I was five, so now I’m just trying snowboarding to kind of learn it over here, which is a lot easier than in Sweden. It’s a lot steeper there.”

Okay – so the Loess Hills aren’t Sweden, but it is the only ski area within a two-hour drive.

And with Pottawattamie County Conservation recently acquiring Mt. Crescent, Borgaila says staff are implementing new conservation practices such as maintaining prairie grasses to retain water and prevent runoff.

At Mt. Crescent, I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.